The wait was worth it for the Ankeny girls’ tennis team.
The Hawkettes finally got to open their season on Monday, and they cruised to an 11-0 victory over visiting Fort Dodge in a CIML Iowa Conference matchup at the Prairie Ridge courts.
“We were excited to just play a meet after two weeks of postponements,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith.
Ankeny won all 11 matches in straight sets, including a 6-1, 6-1 victory by Smith’s daughter, Kira, at the No. 1 singles position. The freshman made her varsity debut by defeating Emily Goodner, who used to live on the south side of Ankeny.
“Emily trained with me, several of my current players and even one of my assistant coaches–Caleb Van Rees,” Smith said. “She’s quite good.”
Ankeny also got singles wins from Anna Schmitz, Tori Johnson, Sydney Otto, Payton Blume and Sophie Schmitz. The Hawkettes lost a total of just 13 games in the six matches.
The only close set of the meet came at No. 1 doubles, where Smith and Sophie Schmitz teamed up for a 6-1, 7-6 triumph over Goodner and Meadow Balkenende. The Ankeny duo won the second-set tiebreaker, 7-1.
The Hawkettes will travel to Waukee on Tuesday for a non-conference meet against the Warriors.
“There isn’t much time for practice the rest of year with all the postponements,” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results from Monday:
Ankeny 11, Fort Dodge 0
Singles–Smith beat Goodner, 6-1, 6-1; A. Schmitz beat Balkenende, 6-2, 6-0; Johnson beat Kolacia, 6-1, 6-0; Otto beat Headlee, 6-0, 6-4; Blume beat Teske, 6-3, 6-1; S. Schmitz beat Hamlow, 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles–Smith-S. Schmitz beat Goodner-Balkenende, 6-1, 7-6 (1); A. Schmitz-Otto beat Kolacia-Headlee, 6-0, 6-2; Johnson-Osburn beat Teske-Hamlow, 6-2, 6-0; Blume-Byrnes beat Gebers-Benfends, 6-2, 6-0; Francel-Laib beat Bhatt-Cruz, 6-1, 6-4.